Turkey’s exports to its neighbors, namely Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Greece, grew by 7.4% in 2024 compared to a year earlier and reached a new record of $34.2 billion, according to a report on February 10.

According to the Anadolu Agency (AA), citing official data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat), exports were driven by strong growth in shipments to Iraq, which accounts for almost a third of exports.

According to the data, Turkey, which reached a new export record last year with $262 billion, also increased shipments to neighboring countries, including Bulgaria and Greece. These two countries led the way with the highest annual growth in shipments, increasing the volume of goods purchased from Turkey by 21.9% and 15.5% in 2024 compared to a year earlier.

For comparison, total outbound shipments from Turkey to its neighbors in 2023 amounted to approximately $31.9 billion.

Positive dynamics

In terms of last year’s exports, Iraq ranked first with just over $13 billion, representing a 2.2% increase over the previous year. This country is followed by Bulgaria with almost $5.2 billion, Greece with $4.8 billion, and Iran with $3.2 billion.

While Turkey has witnessed rapprochement and positive dynamics in its relations with its southern and western neighbors, Iraq and Greece, it has been observed that this was also reflected in the growth of exports to these countries last year. On the other hand, exports to Iran, despite high quotations, moderately declined by 0.5% compared to the same period last year, the data showed.

This country was the only country where exports declined last year.

Exports to Azerbaijan, meanwhile, jumped nearly 10% to nearly $3.1 billion last year, while more than $2.7 billion worth of goods were shipped to Georgia and nearly $2.2 billion to Syria, according to the data. Shipments to Syria were up 6.5% year-on-year.

When the distribution of Turkey’s exports to its neighbors is examined by section, mineral fuels, oils, and products derived from their distillation ranked first last year. Approximately USD 2.7 billion was exported from this section to seven neighboring countries.

This is followed by boilers, machinery, mechanical devices and nuclear reactors and their components and parts with $2.5 billion. At the same time, last year, $2.1 billion worth of products were shipped to neighboring countries under the section consisting of electrical equipment and appliances.

In its calculations, TurkStat collects data on Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Greece as Turkey’s border neighbors.

Since there is no official data on Nakhchivan, an enclave of Azerbaijan, trade with this region is not included in the calculation, and there is no direct official land trade between Turkey and Armenia.